Did Moses ever pray to G-d to allow “him and him only” to enter the promised land, as opposed to praying that the Jewish People should be allowed in the land? Did he ever pray for G-d to forgive him for striking the rock that resulted in G-d’s judgment in not allowing Moses to enter the promised land?
Thank you for your important and interesting question. I haven’t thought about it before, but I’ll try to do so now.
If I understood you correctly, the question is: Did Moses ask to be allowed to go into Israel alone, or did he only ask G-d to forgive his entire generation and let them all go in? (I have no doubt that G-d “forgave” him in the sense of keeping their relationship. G-d doesn’t stay angry with us. His goal in this world is to help us grow as far as we can. Sometimes he punishes us, but it’s for our own good. That’s true for any of us, how much more so for the greatest servant G-d ever had.)
He certainly had gone to enormous lengths to pray on behalf of Israel. After the sin of the Calf, it says that he fell down in prayer for 40 days, asking G-d to forgive them. He prayed for them also after the sin of the spies. He was always their defender in heaven, so to speak.
But he did pray for himself as well. The beginning of the Torah Portion of Va’eschanan says, “I prayed to G-d at that time…” asking for forgiveness and to be allowed to enter Israel. What does it mean, “at that time”? Look earlier in the verses from the Torah Portion of Devarim, and you’ll see that it refers to the time after all of his generation had died in the desert, when the new generation was ready to continue on into Israel. At that point, there was no one left for Moses to pray for save himself. I don’t think there’s a Torah concept akin to “The captain must go down with his ship.” So at that point it was appropriate for him to pray for himself alone.
Best wishes,
Michoel Reach